Alamogordo, city, seat (1899) of Otero county, southern New Mexico, U.S. It lies at the western base of the Sacramento Mountains and east of the Tularosa Basin. Founded by John A. and Charles B. Eddy in 1898 and named for its large cottonwood trees (Spanish: alamo “cottonwood,” gordo “fat”), it became a division point on the Southern Pacific Railroad and developed as a lumber town and agricultural-market centre. The Holloman Air Force Base was constructed there during World War II, and the first atomic bomb was exploded at the “Trinity Site” (60 miles [97 km] northwest) on July 16, 1945 (see photograph). The base later tested guided missiles, and it now houses aerospace research facilities.

Scarcity of water has impeded Alamogordo’s postwar development, but water is supplied from many wells and the 85-mile (137-kilometre) Bonito pipeline system. White Sands National Monument, the International Space Hall of Fame (honouring space pioneers), and the Mescalero (Apache) Reservation are nearby. The city is headquarters for Lincoln National Forest. It is the site of the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped (1903) and of a branch of New Mexico State University. Inc. 1912. Pop. (2000) 35,582; (2010) 30,403.

Learn More in these related articles:

constituent state of the United States of America. It became the 47th state of the union in 1912. New Mexico ranks fifth among the 50 U.S. states in terms of total area and is bounded by Colorado to the north, Oklahoma and Texas to the east, Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to...

segment of the southern Rockies, extending southward for 160 mi (260 km) from Ancho, in south central New Mexico, into Culberson County, western Texas, U.S. They include the Sierra Blanca and the Guadalupe and Jicarilla mountains, with heights averaging from 8,000 to 10,000 ft (2,400 to 3,000 m)....

one of the great American railroad systems, established in 1861 by the “big four” of western railroad building— Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. After completing the Central Pacific from California to Utah in 1869, they started the...